Monday 27 January 2014
Orange cake
Looking for a recipe for a nice layer cake to make as a birthday cake, I came across a recipe for an orange cake in the Primrose Bakery book, and couldn't resist giving it a try. It looks so pretty - I love how the orange zest on top is dispersed by the icing dripping down the sides - and tastes delicious (even if I do say so myself!). The use of orange zest (in the sponge and buttercream) and freshly squeezed orange juice (in the buttercream and icing) gives the cake a lovely flavour. Certainly one I will be making again.
Sunday 26 January 2014
Learning to make bread - month one: bloomer
Did you make a new year's resolution? Mine was to learn how to make bread. For some reason, the idea of making bread has always made me a bit nervous - it seems to be a bit more technical than baking cakes, and thus more potential for things to go wrong! To make sticking to this resolution a bit more realistic, I decided to set myself the task of baking a different bread each month.
For the first month, I decided to keep it simple: a bloomer, the first recipe in Paul Hollywood's Bread book. I picked this book up in my local Oxfam shop, and I think it's going to be a key ingredient to me achieving my new year's resolution! As well as recipes, it explains the role of the different ingredients and the purpose of the various techniques involved in bread making. It also includes step-by-step photographs to accompany the instructions, which I found helpful when making this loaf.
It's an amazing process to see these basic ingredients react and transform. I was really pleased with the final result, both the look of it and the taste; I couldn't have asked for a better result for my first attempt. I can't believe I have been nervous about making bread for so long. Bread-making requires patience, but it's an enjoyable and rewarding process and I'm looking forward to my next bread-making attempt...watch this space!
For the first month, I decided to keep it simple: a bloomer, the first recipe in Paul Hollywood's Bread book. I picked this book up in my local Oxfam shop, and I think it's going to be a key ingredient to me achieving my new year's resolution! As well as recipes, it explains the role of the different ingredients and the purpose of the various techniques involved in bread making. It also includes step-by-step photographs to accompany the instructions, which I found helpful when making this loaf.
It's an amazing process to see these basic ingredients react and transform. I was really pleased with the final result, both the look of it and the taste; I couldn't have asked for a better result for my first attempt. I can't believe I have been nervous about making bread for so long. Bread-making requires patience, but it's an enjoyable and rewarding process and I'm looking forward to my next bread-making attempt...watch this space!
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| The kneaded dough, pre-rise |
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| The risen dough |
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| Knocked back, shaped, proven and ready to go in the oven |
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| The finished bloomer |
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